The Red Bull chief claimed Lewis Hamilton should have left the sport after finishing 13th in Imola. Former McLaren star Mika Hakkinen has also attacked Hamilton, claiming the seven-time champion will be ‘sulking’ at the team’s poor start to the season.
However, Hamilton has hit back claiming he was using the comments on his future as ‘fuel’ to come back stronger.
He said: “People always love you when your up and love to kick you when your down. That’s part of life. Naturally I’ve seen some of the things people who I grown up admitting as a kid, and even in my sport, that have come out with certain comments.
“Some disrespectful. Some not particularly respectful. I take that as fuel. I’m putting that into the pot.
“I’m going to turn that into a positive and we are going to come back stronger as a team. Four bad races, or five, six, seven, ten bad races is going to stop me from doing what I love doing.
“It’s not going to stop me in my tracks. I have been racing 29 years. I’ve had way more difficult times than this and I’ve bounced back. So it’s not how you fall, it’s how you get up.
“That for me just highlights to those people, nothing you say or do will stop me in my tracks.”
Marko claimed Hamilton should have quit at the end of last season after Verstappen lapped him at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Hakkinen’s comment would have also hurt the Briton as he would have been part of the McLaren Mercedes team when Hamilton got backing from Ron Dennis as a youngster.
However, the double world champion recently said: “For Lewis, this is a disaster. And with George being ahead, it’s even worse.
“I wonder how Lewis behaves in the team meetings – I bet he’s sulking. I can imagine the sulking. There’s lots of complaining and whining. And now starts the natural thought process of drivers – ‘Should I go somewhere else?’ It’s a fact.
“He’s been at Mercedes for several years and won multiple championships. Now that things are not going well, he’ll start thinking of switching teams.”